Red Bull investigating Energy Recovery System fault that sidelined Max Verstappen after just four laps in Practice Two; watch qualifying for the Canadian GP on Saturday at 9pm, with Sunday’s race at 7pm – live on Sky Sports F1
Max Verstappen admitted his start to the Canadian Grand Prix weekend was “not ideal” after his Red Bull car hit technical trouble on Friday in Montreal. On a disrupted opening day for the whole grid amid on-off rain at the Circuit Giles Villeneuve, Verstappen was restricted to just four laps in Practice Two due to an ERS (Energy Recovery System) problem which saw his RB20 trail smoke before returning to the pits.
Red Bull are investigating the cause of the fault ahead of Saturday’s action in Montreal, when qualifying is at 9pm live on Sky Sports F1.
“It’s not ideal,” said Verstappen, whose Red Bull team are aiming to return to the front this weekend after being outperformed by Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes last time out in Monaco.
“I would have liked to drive more laps, some other people had a few more laps in the dry and a few more laps in the wet. “This is definitely not what I wanted from the second training session, but it’s more important to know what actually happened and how it will affect this year and the rest of the year.”
Verstappen, who will use a new engine for the third time this season of the 2024 season this weekend, added: “They are currently investigating it. I’m not back in the garage yet, but I’m sure we’ll know what it is soon.”
The Dutchman managed just 10 laps in the first practice, a session that was first delayed by morning hail and then red-flagged by Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu’s accident just as the track was getting ready.
Both Friday’s timetables have been made virtually academic by changeable weather conditions, meaning few concrete clues have emerged so far about the weekend’s rankings.
Will Red Bull struggle again or be back on form in Montreal?
Verstappen and Red Bull’s position at the top of the F1 World Championship has remained the same all season, but the points gap between them has narrowed in recent weeks as the battle for the front of the grid has intensified.
Verstappen has won just one of the last three races, narrowly beating McLaren’s Lando Norris at Imola, but on Thursday he issued a warning about her prospects this weekend in Montreal, as the track has the kind of kerbs that Red Bull struggles with. 2024.
Sergio Pérez, who finished 10th in the second practice, assessed the team’s start to a weekend that is expected to be changeable in the weather: “It’s going to be very important to be out at the right time (on Saturday).
We’ve already seen that if you don’t accelerate on the right lap, it changes quite a bit, so it can make quite a difference. “We have a rough idea about the car, but it is very difficult to draw any conclusions on the track with the weather.
We will see (Saturday) how competitive the car is.”
Leclerc pleased with ‘very competitive’ start | Norris: Ferrari seem ahead
Inconsistent track conditions made it hard to gauge exactly where the leading teams were in terms of pace, but Monaco winner Charles Leclerc saw enough to take an early lead from Ferrari’s performance on Friday.
“Overall I’m very happy because we are very competitive in all conditions,” said Leclerc, who finished fourth on the P2 time list. “Just because we didn’t put in the right time in the session on the driest track doesn’t mean we were able to be at the top of the timesheets.
But overall we were very competitive on every lap, which is good. But that doesn’t mean there’s still a lot to improve on the car.
We still have some changes to make for (Saturday) but hopefully that will put us back in a better position.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris said Ferrari was the last team to finish 20th and in the second session, obviously. “At the moment I think we’re a bit off the mark,” he said. “Ferrari are definitely a bit ahead, but things are changing so I don’t know where we are at the moment.”
“It wasn’t really dry and we learned a lot. To be honest, we didn’t learn enough in the dry.” “I think we drove fewer laps than anybody, so it wasn’t the best. It’s pretty wet, but I think we’re in a reasonable position. It’s always difficult here, but I think it was a decent first day.”
